Allen Scores Late, Holds Off Upset-minded Trojans

October 03, 1992|by KEITH GROLLER, The Morning Call

Allen's Todd Stahlnecker summed up the feelings of the entire Canary football team and those AHS faithful in the crowd of 4,500 last night at J. Birney Crum Stadium when he said, "I was really nervous."

However, Stahlnecker's nervousness turned to celebration as he caught Jim Gillespie's 5-yard screen pass and dived into the end zone with 1:10 remaining to tie the game with Parkland. Brian Toman followed with a boot for the extra-point as the Canaries then had to hang on for a heart-pumping 21-20 East Penn Conference victory.

"I don't think I was ever more nervous in my life," said Stahlnecker, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior who couldn't have picked a better time to get his first career TD.

"At first, I couldn't even see the ball. I lost it in the lights. Once I got it, I just bounced off a couple of people and dove for the corner of the end zone. It was the best feeling I've ever had when I knew I had the touchdown."

Even though Toman was perfect on his third PAT attempt of the night, the emotionally drained Allen fans couldn't relax until the defense sacked Parkland backup quarterback Craig Kohler twice and Hassan DeJesus intercepted his second pass of the game with 14 seconds left.

The pickoff capped one of the most exciting games of the year, including a frantic final 4:25 in which Parkland (1-4) saw its chance for a huge upset slip away.

"You've got to give our kids a lot of credit," said a proud, but deeply disappointed Parkland head coach Scott LeVan, who got TD runs by Dave Seng and Scott Urso in the first half.

"We just couldn't hold on to the ball. "It was just a hard-hitting football game. No doubt about it. It was a great game. I wish I was just watching it as a spectator because then you don't feel the hurt like I feel right now. You could see the hurt in the eyes of our kids. It's tough to take."

Allen was put in a tough spot with 4:25 left when Parkland's Chad Klimek stepped in front of a Canary pass in the left flat and rumbled 82 yards untouched to give Parkland a 20-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Trojans, it stayed 20-14 as Sam Landis had his extra-point kick partially blocked.

"I don't know what happened; I didn't see it because I was getting the kickoff coverage team ready," LeVan said.

The missed PAT looked like it wasn't going to matter as Parkland's defense -- tough all season according to LeVan -- rose up and stopped Allen on downs at the Trojan 49.

But Parkland, which turned the ball over five times, gave the ball right back to the Canaries when quarterback Bob Brown was hit before he could hand the ball off by an unidentified Canary and Allen's Nate Hobgood-Chittick fell on the loose ball.

"Somebody put a good stick on Brown and I was just there to get the ball; it might have been James Reimert who's got a heart as big as his head," Hobgood-Chittick said with a smile. "We had to make a big play on defense at that point. We just shot the gaps and came up with it."

Taking a cue from the defense, the Allen offense came up with a big play of its own as DeJesus, bottled up by the Trojan defense most of the night, hauled in a 39-yard reception at the Parkland 10.

A 5-yard gain by Danny Pichardo, who earlier had a 28-yard scoring run, came in the middle of two incompletions, setting up a fourth-and-goal at the 5. That's when Stahlnecker got nervous ... and the ball.

"It was a counter screen," Allen coach Rich Sniscak said. "It was called by Andy Baranek, one of my assistants. There was no doubt about what we wanted to do. That's a play we practice a lot in a goal-line situation. Fortunately, it came through for us."

That call worked out, but Sniscak, whose team won its third straight and improved to 4-1, said he didn't do a great job of coaching.

"I did a poor job," he said. "I just didn't have them ready. I almost hung them out to dry by going to the well once too often on that Parkland interception. I'll take the responsibility. The kids had enough character to pull it out at the end.

"But we all have to get better, including me. Obviously, I'm not getting through to them because we're not hungry enough."